The medical model treatment prison prevalent in the 1960's and early 1970's was, as almost all correctional professionals now realize, riddled with both moral and psychological contradictions. With the rejection of this model, however, the corrections profession has failed to conceptualize anything other than the warehouse model of corrections as an alternative to the treatment prison. The prisons of 1983 are hopelessly overcrowded, and the physical safety of inmates cannot be ensured. With the abandonment of systematic efforts at rehabilitative, educational, and vocational training, there has been little interaction between professional correctional and academic disciplines. Experimentation in corrections has practically ceased, coupled with an increased unwillingness to consider corrections a social invention in which the premises of the institution must be subjected to ongoing review and reinvention. Underlying the confusion of corrections is the lack of consensus as to a rational correctional purpose. A special consequence of the meaninglessness pervading prison life is prison violence. Gang violence is on the increase in virtually every large prison and may be interpreted as an effort to create a meaningful community in an anomic prison environment. What is needed is the restoration of creative thinking, vision, and imagination in corrections. Once the prison believes it can create itself into a positive force, perhaps it will have the faith that it can benefit the inmate. Twenty bibliographic entries are provided.